Constable, sergeant or inspector — see gross-to-net for 2026/27 with the Police Pension Scheme 2015 charged the way it really works: a non-marginal tier on your whole pensionable pay, so crossing £37,035 or £79,588 lifts the rate on everything. Enter the Met's pensionable London Weighting as pensionable pay and the South East's allowance as non-pensionable to see exactly how each moves your pension deduction and your take-home.
8 min read·Updated Thu Aug 20 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)·🇬🇧 UK
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Key takeaways
Key takeaways · 2026/27
PPS 2015 is non-marginal: your whole pensionable pay is charged at one tier rate (12.88%, 13.88% or 14.22%), unlike Income Tax which only taxes the slice above each threshold.
Cross £37,035 or £79,588 and the higher rate hits every pound — a small pay-point rise right at the edge can briefly cut your net pay.
The Met's London Weighting is pensionable (it raises your contribution); the South East allowance is not (it is taxable, NI-able cash only). Enter them in the right box to see the difference.
Scotland kept a flat 13.7% member rate — pick Scotland to switch off the E&W tiers (and onto Scottish Income Tax bands).
How it works
Why police pay needs its own calculator
A police salary is not a number you can drop into a generic take-home tool. The Police Pension Scheme 2015 (PPS 2015) charges a tiered contribution that is non-marginal — the whole of your actual pensionable pay is charged at the single rate its total falls into — and it is a net-pay arrangement, so the contribution reduces your Income Tax but National Insurance is still charged on your full pay. Get either wrong and take-home is out by hundreds of pounds a year.
Contribution tiers, 2026/27
Pensionable pay
Rate (E&W)
Scotland
Up to £37,035
12.88%
13.7% flat
£37,035.01 – £79,587.99
13.88%
£79,588 and above
14.22%
The cliff-edge generic calculators ignore: because the tiers are non-marginal, a pay-point rise that nudges pensionable pay across £37,035 or £79,588 raises the rate on all of it. The calculator flags when you are within £500 of a boundary so you can see it coming.
Worked example — a pay-point crossing the 12.88% → 13.88% boundary
Take a constable on £36,900 pensionable pay, just below the first boundary. Their pension is 12.88% × £36,900 = £4,753. A pay-point rise to £37,200 — £300 more gross — pushes them over £37,035, so the rate on the whole salary jumps to 13.88%: 13.88% × £37,200 = £5,163. The pension contribution has risen by £410 on a £300 pay rise, so the pensionable-pay increase is more than swallowed by pension for that step. Income Tax and NI still take their marginal slice, so net pay dips slightly before the next increment pulls clear. The extra £410 is not lost — it buys more guaranteed pension — but on a whole-salary tier jump the headline rise flatters the payslip.
Met London Weighting vs a South East allowance
High-cost-area pay is where officers most often mis-estimate net pay, because the two common allowances behave differently:
Met London Weighting (~£3,150) — pensionable. It is added to your pensionable pay, so it attracts the 12.88%–14.22% contribution and can push you into a higher tier. Enter it inside Annual pensionable pay.
Met London Allowance / South East allowance (up to ~£3,000) — non-pensionable. Taxable and NI-able cash only; no pension is charged on it, so more of each pound reaches your pocket and it never moves your pension tier. Enter it in Non-pensionable pay.
Put the same £3,000 in each box in turn and watch the pension line: as pensionable pay it costs you ~13.88% in extra contribution; as non-pensionable pay it costs nothing in pension. That is the whole distinction generic tools miss.
Net-pay relief — and why NI still bites
PPS 2015 is a net-pay arrangement: your contribution comes out before Income Tax, giving full tax relief automatically. But it is not salary sacrifice — National Insurance is charged on your pay before the pension, which is why your NI looks higher than a private-sector colleague on a sacrifice scheme. The salary sacrifice calculator shows the difference; the public-sector hub compares all four big schemes side by side.
What are the police pension contribution rates for 2026/27?
From 1 April 2026 the Police Pension Scheme 2015 in England & Wales charges three non-marginal tiers on your actual annual pensionable pay: 12.88% up to £37,035, 13.88% from £37,035.01 to £79,587.99 and 14.22% at £79,588 and above. The structure is set to yield 13.70% overall. Scotland kept a flat 13.7% for all members. It is a net-pay arrangement, so the contribution cuts your Income Tax but not your National Insurance.
Is the police pension marginal like Income Tax?
No — and this is the trap. Income Tax is marginal: only the pound above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate. The police pension is non-marginal: the moment your pensionable pay crosses a tier boundary, the higher rate applies to all of it. So a pay-point rise that nudges you from £36,900 to £37,200 lifts the rate on your whole salary from 12.88% to 13.88%, and the extra pension can briefly exceed the extra gross. The calculator warns you when you are close to a boundary.
Is London Weighting pensionable for the Met?
Yes. The Metropolitan Police London Weighting (£3,150) is pensionable — it counts toward your pensionable pay, so it increases your pension contribution and can push you into a higher tier. The separate London Allowance (and the various force-level South East allowances of up to about £3,000) are not pensionable: they are taxable, NI-able cash that does not raise your pension. On this calculator, put pensionable London Weighting into Annual pensionable pay and any non-pensionable allowance into Non-pensionable pay.
How does the Met allowance differ from a South East allowance?
Both are ways of paying officers more for a high-cost area, but they behave differently at the payslip. The Met's London Weighting is pensionable, so it is inside your pension tier calculation and attracts the 12.88%–14.22% contribution. A South East allowance (force-dependent, up to ~£3,000) is non-pensionable — you pay Income Tax and NI on it but no pension, so more of it reaches your pocket per pound, and it never pushes you into a higher pension tier.
Can a promotion or pay-point rise reduce my police take-home pay?
Right at a tier boundary, briefly, yes. Because the tiers are non-marginal, a rise from just below £37,035 to just above it raises your contribution rate on your whole pensionable pay by one percentage point. For a small rise, that extra pension can be larger than the extra net salary, so take-home dips before the next pay point restores it. It is not money lost — the higher contribution buys more guaranteed career-average pension — but it is worth seeing before you weigh a move.
Does this calculator cover Scottish police officers?
Yes. Select Scotland and the calculator switches the pension to the flat 13.7% member rate (Scotland did not adopt the England & Wales tiers) and applies Scottish Income Tax bands to your pay. National Insurance is identical UK-wide. The Police Scotland pay scales differ slightly from the E&W scales, so enter your actual pensionable pay.
Disclaimer: Figures are estimates based on 2026/27 rates and rules and may change. Verify with HMRC or a qualified adviser before making financial decisions.